PC Market Returns to Positive, Though Gains Remain Small - Slide 7

Vendor Outlook

Dell saw growth of 2.8 percent worldwide. It managed to slow the pace of declines in key markets compared to the first quarter, with good gains in key emerging markets.

Worldwide PC shipments increased 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The results are just short of IDC's May projections for 2.9 percent growth and represent a combination of a hangover from the more than 20 percent growth in the first half of 2010, as well as competition from smartphones, other consumer products and pressure from lackluster economic conditions. As in 1Q11, the United States and Western Europe were among the weaker regions, reflecting constrained demand in more mature markets, while emerging regions - particularly Latin America and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) - fared better.

"These preliminary results continue to reflect pressure from competing consumer and business products as well as cautious spending," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Nevertheless, product refreshes and promotions in the second half of the year as well as easier year-ago data should boost growth in the second half of the year."

"The U.S. PC market continued to contract in 2Q11, largely as a result of three factors. The first is an ongoing contraction in the Mini Notebook (Netbook) market and related inventories. The second is the impact of 2Q10's difficult-to-sustain 12 percent growth. And third, demand has softened as corporate buyers continue to focus on increasing share of their IT budget in new IT solutions such as cloud and virtualization, and consumer interest shifts to media tablets," says Rajani Singh, research analyst, United States Quarterly PC Tracker. "Given the weakness of 2H10, we expect a better market environment in 2H11 with mid-single digit growth rates in the third quarter's back to school and fourth quarter's holiday season."